Dollar Volatility Rises on Mixed Data

The EUR/USD oscillated considerably today after reaching the lowest price in 9 months as mixed data published in the U.S. caused divergent opinions among traders towards the dollar. Speculations that the Fed might lift economic stimulus and that some investors may start buying back euros allowed to euro to pare some of its early losses. EUR/USD is near its record low for 2010 at 1.3584.

Producer Price Index (PPI) increased by 1.4% in January from a previous revised advance of 0.4%. Forecasts expected this price index to grow 0.8%.

Initial jobless claims advanced to 472k applications in the past week from a previous revised reading of 442k applications. This report ended a series of consecutive weekly improvements, and forecasts expected 440k new applications.

Philadelphia Fed index increased to 17.6 in February from a previous reading of 15.2 last month. Forecasts were near actual figures expecting this manufacturing index to be at 17.2.

Leading indicators index increased by 0.3% in January following a 1.2% revised gain in December. Forecasts expected indicators to grow by 0.6%.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 3.1 million barrels from the previous week. Oil inventories are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels last week, and are also above the upper limit of the average range.